Hometown: Wentzville, MO
Year in Formation: Temporarily Professed – 4th Year in Vows
High School: Saint Dominic High School (O’Fallon, MO), 2016
College: University of Notre Dame, 2020
College Major: Physics and Philosophy
Patron Saint: Óscar Romero, Mother Teresa, Kateri Tekakwitha
Favorite Movie: Interstellar, Arrival
Favorite Books: After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre, The Sign of Jonas by Thomas Merton, The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell
Favorite Music: Bleachers, The Brilliance, Danny Ocean
Hobbies: Backpacking, biking, basketball, volleyball
Favorite Way to Pray: Quiet solo-hiking
Favorite Devotion: Chaplet of Our Lady of Sorrows
Ways that you resonate with the Holy Cross charism, “Educators in the Faith”: When I was a kid, I asked the question “Why?” about religion, politics, business, and especially science. Time and time again, I encounter Christ — the answer to my deepest longings. For Holy Cross, the work of education is digging up this “wonder” in those we serve, and then walking together to Christ. I would love to spend my life educating this way, whether it be in a parish, university, school, or mission.
One aspect of Holy Cross spirituality that speaks to you the most and why: In my life, I have felt most alive when I am close to suffering – whether it be the suffering of a friend, family, a brother in Holy Cross, or certainly my own suffering. God overwhelms these moments with grace. Holy Cross embraces moments of suffering and somehow finds hope. I have felt so at home with Holy Cross, who preaches so boldly “Ave Crux, Spes Unica.”
Your vocation story: After I had been discerning priesthood for about a year in high school, one of my classmates lost someone very dear to her to suicide. For some reason, I was the first person she talked to that very night. Throughout the next year, I tried to walk with her as she worked to get up in the morning, make it through a school day, and just keep it all together. I learned that suffering has no cheap answers or quick solutions. But somehow, the closer I came to her grief, the more alive I felt. I had nothing to give her but a gentle and persistent hope. At the end of that year, I joined Holy Cross in our Old College Undergraduate Seminary. In my years of formation since, I’ve learned that I don’t just feel called to be a priest but a son of Our Lady of Sorrows: a priest who is in touch with his own brokenness and suffering and who draws close to the brokenhearted, offering them more than platitudes or performances but hope in the Cross of Jesus Christ that offers us eternal life.
Favorite Verse: “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.” Ezekiel 37:13
Favorite Bl. Basil or St. André Quote: “Life is in the cross and no place else.” – Blessed Basil Moreau
How can visitors to this page pray for you? Perseverance and joy in the vows of Chastity, Poverty, and Obedience